The field of the present invention is teaching tools and methods and, in particular, tools and methods for helping children understand the concept of recycling.
Recently, substantial attention has focused on the benefits achievable through large-scale recycling operations. Indeed, recent estimates indicate that recycling will soon become an $18 billion dollar per year industry within the United States.
Although the recycling industry appears to be growing at a rapid rate, the industry remains highly dependent upon consumer awareness. Moreover, if the average consumer is unaware of the recycling opportunities available to him or her on a daily basis, that consumer cannot be expected to participate in a meaningful manner in the recycling of used goods. It is also a commonly accepted fact that, once a consumer develops a habit with respect to the disposal of used goods, that habit may be difficult to break. For example, teaching consumers to separate recyclable and non-recyclable trash can be a formidable task, when those consumers have, for years, disposed of all of their trash in a single can or bin. It follows that, if we desire to achieve the maximum benefits available through recycling, teaching consumers to recycle used goods at an early age must become a fundamental tenet of our ecological policy agenda. For this reason, it is believed that the recycling industry would find the provision of one or more tools to teach consumers and, in particular, children the benefits of recycling to be highly desirable.